A sterling week in the Kenai Peninsula

We've had an exciting and fun filled week in the Kenai Peninsula with our friends Gerry and Jan Van Kooten at their cabin in Sterling. Sorry for the delay in postings. I'll try to post more often this week.

The drive from Anchorage to Sterling took most of the day, because we kept stopping to see the sights. A highlight was taking the Aleyeska Tram to the top of a ski hill, where we could see down the mountain and out to the salt water of Turnagain Arm. We stopped to play in the snow near the foot of small glacier.

We worshipped Sunday with Gerry and Jan at the Sterling Baptist Church, and some of us went on a hike that afternoon to a nearby lake. But the big hike was the next day when we went to the Russian River Falls -- 5 miles round trip! Unfortunately, we left our lunch and water bottles at the cabin, so the kids were especially glad to see the car again at the trailhead. Their efforts were rewarded with a fine lunch at a Cooper Landing Restaurant.

As we returned to the Van Kootens' cabin, we spotted this cow moose and her two calves near the roadway.

On Tuesday we explored around the nearby cities of Soldotna and Kenai. Eric was intimidated by the world record king salmon in the Soldotna Visitors' Center -- over 97 pounds!

At a homestead museum, Jason had a close encounter with a (stuffed) grizzly.

Many coastal towns have a Russian Orthodox Church, since Russians were the first western peoples to build settlements in Alaska. We visited this church in the city of Kenai, and spent some time talking with the priest there.

An icon in the church -- a familiar sight after so much time spent last month in Jerusalem.

We ended up on the beach at the mouth of the Kenai River, where the kids discovered the clay-like properties of the mud there.

We spent a couple of days in Homer, literally at the end of the road. We spent Thursday exploring the town together, but the day before Laura and I went out on a fishing charter and each caught our limit of halibut. Tasty!

On Friday, our last full day in the Kenai Peninsula, we visited a tribal cultural center, where we learned which forest plants can be eaten and why the raven is a scavenger and not a predator (among other things). That evening, Gerry took us out fishing on the Kenai River for rainbow trout. We didn't land anything, but Eric surprised us all by bringing a nice sockeye salmon to the boat before the line snapped. Here he is taking instructions from Captain Van Kooten.